A/N I am SOO sorry for not updating. I was staring at my screen everytime, typing some sentences, re-reading them and deleting them again. At a certain point I just had to force myself to go on, or this chapter would never be finished!
I don't own Yumeiro Patissiere, I didn't in the first chapter, neither in the second so there should have been a miracle if I owned it now. Too bad, no miracle. Enjoy reading~!
"This is... most certainly..."
Kashino looked at his cake.
"...unbelievable."
~YP~
"Simply put, you were rejected."
Hanabusa sighed.
"That's why I don't want to put it simply. It hurts more when you say it that way."
Andou nodded. He understood the green-haired boy's feelings quite well, even though he'd never experienced love before.
"I get it."
Talking to Andou always made Hanabusa feel a little bit better. He could easily place himself in another person's situation and understand what this person's feelings must be like. He and Kashino might disagree on certain points (such as the way to treat women and a certain clumsy groupmate in particular), but he thought Andou was a good friend.
"I do hope Ichigo-chan won't act differently around you, though. That might be a problem for the whole of group A."
He sighed. Andou had said what he had been afraid of ever since he decided to confess to Ichigo.
"..tonight?"
Suddenly Satsuki noticed a hand waving in front of his face.
"You're spacing out, are you sure you're okay?" Andou inquired.
"Yes.. yes I'm fine. What did you say before?" Satsuki decided to just pretend he was fine. Although he felt like his blood was slowly dripping out of his heart. Everytime he thought of Ichigo, his heart would beat once more, squeezing out some more of the red liquid painfully.
"I asked if we were going to practice tonight."
Satsuki blinked a couple of times. Of course, practicing was very important. On the other hand, it would mean meeting Ichigo. Just after she rejected him.
"I am."
~YP~
Vanilla yawned and flew towards her bed when she saw her partner was opening the door of the room, trying not to wake up Rumi.
"Are you going to practice again? You've been practicing with Kashino and Hanabusa-kun today!"
"Yes. If I want to catch up with Kashino and the others, I'll need to practice whenever I can." Ichigo whispered as she closed the door very quietly again.
"Goodnight, Vanilla."
"Goodnight, Ichigo. Make sure you get at least some sleep."
Ichigo smiled. She was lucky to have a Spirit like Vanilla, who cared for her. She wouldn't know what she would be like if Vanilla hadn't been there for her.
A chill ran down her spine when she stepped outside.
"Aahh, I forgot how cold it is this time at night. I have to get to the cooking classroom quick if I don't want to have to stay in bed tomorrow."
~YP~
"Kashino! Kashino!" Chocolat was crying. Kashino had been trying to remake his chocolate cake at least ten times. He screwed up all of them. Over time, he became grumpy and his tempering movements weren't professional and smooth anymore, but they became rough and amateurish. As his Sweets Spirits, Chocolat felt extremely sad when she saw her partner unable to make his (and her!) specialty.
"Look! It's Chocolat!" Chocolat was too busy trying to make her partner stop cooking and rest to hear Café and Caramel come in.
Andou and Satsuki also came in. Both of them walked to a kitchen unit and started cooking. They were all concentrating so much that they didn't notice Ichigo coming in. She saw everyone was focused on their work and told herself she'd work hard herself.
"Satsuki is making his favorite rose cake, decorated with several small roses of different colours surrounding a big rose."
"It looks good, desu~! Andou-kun is making a cake with bean paste and green tea!"
"Hmm, that looks delicious as well."
Caramel looked at Chocolat and Café came closer so he could take a look at Kashino's cake.
"Chocolat, what is Kashino making?" Only then, Chocolat realized there were other people, and Spirits, in the classroom. She looked at Caramel and started sobbing again.
Then, suddenly, with no clear reason, Caramel started crying out very loud. Chocolat stopped in shock.
"Ca... Caramel! Why are you crying?"
"Because... Because... Because you were crying and if Chocolat cries it must be very bad."
Chocolat looked down at the crying Sweets Spirit and felt her own tears well up again. Before she knew, before she could stop it, she too was crying out loud. She fell on her knees on the kitchen unit, next to Caramel.
Café, Ichigo and Andou tried to give the crying Spirits sweets to make them feel better, they said nice things to make them stop.
"Kashino! You do something, too!" Satsuki said angrily. Kashino turned his back on him, took his cake and utensils and walked to another kitchen unit.
Satsuki opened his mouth to scold him when suddenly Vanilla barged in. She took her spoon, held it above her and hit Caramel with it first, and then Chocolat. Both of them were too shocked to continue crying.
"If you got time to cry, you got time to practice!"
"Vanilla! I thought you were going to sleep early!" Ichigo said, poking Satsuki in the ribs. He seemed to think the whole situation was quite amusing, since he was having a hard time trying not to laugh.
"A good Spirit never leaves his or her partner. Certainly not during practice." Vanilla winked at Chocolat.
Said Spirit lifted her head and saw that Vanilla didn't look angry at all and that she was holding out her hand. She gladly took it, stood up and dusted herself off. Reluctantly, she took the small handkerchief Ichigo offered her.
"What do you guys think about a cake-tasting-party when we've all finished our cakes?"
~YP~
"Yay! Cake-eating time!" It looked like Ichigo forgot why she came up with the idea of a cake-tasting-party and she was ecstatic to eat everyone's cake. She cut a piece for everyone of the four cakes and arranged them on plates.
"Let's eat!"
For a couple of moments nobody said anything.
"Ichigo-chan, this cake is very good! It's sweet with a slight bitter taste to it and you combined the two tastes very well."
"I agree with Hanabusa, it's very delicious!"
"Thank you! I just love the bean paste in your cake, Andou-kun. And the roses are well made, Hanabusa-kun."
"Seems like everyone saved the chocolate cake for the last," Café said, looking around.
"Of course! They save the best for last," Chocolat said with a proud voice.
Vanilla laughed.
"Looks like you are back to usual. Do you want to tell why you were crying?"
Chocolat had forgotten about it. Suddenly she realized the taste of the first cake Kashino made that afternoon. Before she could stand up and warn her partner, she heard a loud crashing sound of a plate touching the floor and falling apart into small pieces.
"Wh.. What's this? I've never... ever.. tasted something you made.. Kashino... that tasted this... terrible."
Chocolat's eyes widened. Apparently, Kashino wasn't able to make this cake right. This cake was probably just as bad as the one he made before. And the one he made before that one. And the other ones.
"Kashino!" she cried at the boy who was walking quickly to the door, past Ichigo, who tried to talk to him, past Satsuki and Andou, who were both looking at their friend, and past Chocolat, who had started to cry again.
"Chocolat. Do you know what's wrong with him?" Café asked cautiously.
"Nothing!" she screamed with a catch in her voice. "Mind your own business." And she too ran away from the classroom.
"Maybe we should try to talk to him," Satsuki doubted.
"I think we should leave him alone for now. We can talk to him tomorrow."
~YP~
The next morning, Ichigo, Satsuki and Andou didn't get a chance to talk to Kashino. They noticed he was looking out the window during French and Ichigo caught him drawing in his notebook during chemistry. When the bell rang, she came closer to look at his drawing, but he shut the notebook with force and walked away, without looking back.
Group A, aka Team Ichigo, had to wait until lunch break before they had time to talk to Kashino.
If he wasn't avoiding them. Everytime anyone approached him, he'd take his stuff and walk away.
When after school still no one had had a chance to ask Kashino about his problems, they were extremely worried. Even Vanilla wasn't in the mood to hit the sobbing Chocolat again.
Ichigo let out a sigh.
"What can we do? We don't know why he's acting like this, so how can we help?"
Satsuki and Andou nodded.
"He has to tell us what happened."
Then Chocolat realized how she could help. Extreme situations asked for extreme actions. She wouldn't usually tell her partner's secrets to anyone else. The reason she didn't tell Vanilla that Kashino was in love with Ichigo was because she thought he had to tell her himself. Oh, and of course she doesn't really like him being in love with another girl and such.
"I... I know," she whispered, hoping she was the only one who heard.
But she was now in the centre of the attention.
"You know what?"
"Why.. he, Kashino.. I know what happened."
A/N Yes.. I know.. Complete crap. I'm sorry~! T_T
